Philipp Meyer

Now 38, Meyer spent 10 years teaching himself how to write.  In his interview with the New Yorker, He says he "decided I would throw everything away, everything I’d heard in college and everything else. I decided I would trust only myself."

His first novel, American Rust, was published in 2009.  It is set in a dying steel town in Pennsylvania, where two unemployed young men try to figure out what to do with their lives. 

In "What You Do Out Here, When You're Alone", Max and Lilli are blown apart by an "accident" that left their son in a coma.  They each have to come to grips with their guilt, and who will care for their comatose son.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/06/14/100614fi_fiction_20under40_qa_philipp-meyer#ixzz27PWZprtD